Gobbledygeek episode 377, “Four-Color Flashback: The Nameless City Trilogy,” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

For the next installment of this year’s superhero-free Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo leave the realm of autobiography, semi- or otherwise, for some thrilling adventures in fictional China. Faith Erin Hicks’ The Nameless City trilogy has everything: young men and women coming of age in trying times, political intrigue, backstabbing, betrayal, and some pretty cool martial arts fights. The boys discuss Hicks’ deceptively simple artwork, how she incorporates sound effects into her storytelling, Jordie Bellaire’s stunning color, and why The Nameless City is a love story but not a romance.